Green Goddess Farfalle with Dairy Free Pesto

Don’t you just love pasta?

It’s so quick and easy to make and there are hundreds of shapes and sauces. According to I Love Pasta, there are more than six hundred shapes and types to choose from. Hmmmm! Maybe I need to introduce a bit more variety to my store cupboard.

My pasta staples

• My go-to shape is penne, which really holds a sauce well and I tend to coat it in a tomato-based sauce, but I’ll use it for just about anything. We eat so much of this one, that I buy it in bulk. 
• I like spaghetti with a bolognaise or just simply dressed with some olive oil, chilli flakes and veggie parmesan. 
• I coat tagliatelle in creamy sauces. 
• Bow pasta or farfalle as it is also known, is paired with pesto. 
• If I am making a pasta salad I like to use messicani, which I call belly button pasta. It's such a fun shape. 

And that is it, just five pasta shapes. Not very adventurous when you consider there are over six hundred out there.

I used farfalle for this dish, mixed with veg and coated it in homemade vegan pesto . It's a one-pot dish too, so less work and less washing up.

You can use shop-bought pesto. I like Sacla dairy free or Mr Organic Basil Pesto, which is also vegan.

Pesto is so tasty it doesn't need cheese.

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Green Goddess Farfalle with Dairy Free Pesto

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum

July 17, 2015

A tasty pasta with dairy free pesto, broccoli, spinach and peas. Super tasty and healthy, but filling too. This pasta dish is good hot or cold as a pasta salad.

Ingredients

• 500g farfalle (bow) pasta
• 120ml olive oil
• 90g cashew nuts
• 30g fresh basil leaves
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• a good grinding of black pepper
• 1 head broccoli cut into small florets
• 1 cup frozen peas (you don't need exact measurements for this one)
• 3 cubes frozen spinach or two big handfuls
• a good grinding black pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, then cook the pasta according to the packet or until al dente.2. Whizz together the pesto ingredients (oil, nuts, basil, garlic & black pepper) in a blender until just about smooth. It’s nice to have a bit of a crunch to the sauce, so don’t over-blend it.3. A few minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the small broccoli florets and spinach to the pot and right at the end add the peas. They don’t take long at all. 4. Before draining the pasta, reserve 3 tbsp of the cooking liquid to add back into the sauce. 5. Drain the pasta and vegetables and return to the pot with the reserved cooking liquid and the pesto and stir well.6. Serve while hot with a good grinding of black pepper.7. Enjoy!

Details

Total time: 15 mins
Yield: Serves 4-6

If you like this recipe why not try my Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce for Spaghetti?